Latch



(No Model.) N. JOHNSON.

LATCH Patented Apr. 29, 1890.

INVENTOR: J. :7 070230 1 WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NICHOLAS JOHNSON, OF MERRIAM, KANSAS.

LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 426,938, dated April 29, 1890.

Application filed July 5,1889. Serial No. 316,497. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, NICHOLAS JOHNSON, of Merriam, Johnson county, Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Securing Doors, Gates, &c., of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to an improvement in devices for securing doors and gates in position when opened or closed; and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices, that will be more fully set forth hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

The object of my invention is to provide a cheap, simple, and efficient device to be attached to a door or gate for the purpose of holding the same in either an open or closed position, and thereby prevent the same from swinging to or being blown closed by the wind.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is afront elevation of a doorway, showing the door provided with my improved securer and partly open. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a gate partly open, and showing the same provided with one of my improved securers. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one form of my improved securer designed particularly for use on gates. Fig. 4 is a similar viewof a securer designed particularly for use on doors. Fig. 5 is a similar view of another modified form of my improved securer designed to be.

used on narrow-faced doors, such as screendoors. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective View of one of my improved securers attached to a door, the latter being shown in a closed position, and the securer being fastened by a padlook to prevent the door from being opened. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a modified form of a device to be placed on the door-jamb and adapted to be engaged by the securer.

My securer A, designed for doors, is made of two pieces of thin steel or other suitable metal having the required resilience. These pieces 7' r are fluted or corrugated transversely, as shown, so as to form diamondshaped openings between them at their centers and near their ends. The approaching portions j of the pieces on opposite sides of the center are in contact, as shown, and are flattened. The opposite extremities of the pieces form pairs of jaws a b, the ends of which are curved outward in opposite directions to enable the pin 0 in the door-jamb or the central portion of the staple h in the washboard 1' to pass between them, respectively, when the door is opened or closed, and enter the diamond-shaped recesses 92 between the pairs of jaws. The pin 0 is'looated in a transverse recess in the door-jamb (Z.

The central portions of the pieces r r are inserted in recesses in the face of the door and are sunk flush therewith. The pairs of spring-jaws a 1) project from opposite sides of the door, and the jaws a, which are adapted to engage the pin 0 when the door is closed, have aligned openings 0 to receive the curved arm 25 of a padlock Q, as shown in Fig. 6,

thereby enabling the door to be locked. In

order to hold the pieces 0" r in the recesses in the face of the door, I employ a staple g, which is driven into the face of the door in a position astride of the centers of the parts of the door-securer. When the door is opened the jaws b engage the central portion of the vided with the openings 0 for the purpose before described. In attaching the securer to the gate the eye of the former is sunk in a recess in the face of the gate, and the staple g is then driven into the gate astride of the securer, as shown in Fig. 2. In the said figure, m represents the gate, Z represents the face thereof, and 76 represents the post against which the gate closes.

In Fig. 5 I illustrate another modified form of my invention, designed for use on screen doors and other doors having narrow faces. The said securer C is made of two flat pieces .9 s in contact with each other, having their outer ends bent to form the. jaws a, and their inner ends bent outward at right angles to form feet or flanges p 1). These bear against the outer side of the door, and are secured thereto by screws which pass through openings in them. The straight poriionsj of the securer lie in a transverse recess in the face of the door.

In Fig. '7 astaple 5 is shown as placed over pin 0, which modified form may be used, if preferred. In this case each of the jaws passes through one of the apertures thus formed.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim- The door having the recess in its face, the securer fitted in the said recess and having the projecting transversely-ii uted spring-j aws provided with the openings 0, the pin in the jamb to engage the said spring-jaws, and the padlock having its loop adapted to pass through the openings 0, all in combination, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' NICHOLAS JOHNSON. Witnesses:

F. G. FISCHER, A. A. HIGDON. 

